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WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 2009
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NEWS ABOUT: America

America stories: 60 news summaries

21 - 40 of 60 Stories | << Prev 1 2 3 Next >>

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 On Film, a Black 
 President Is 
 Nothing New 

From 24 to The Fifth Element

Oct 27, 08 5:57 PM CDT
(Newser) - America may be on the verge of electing its first black president, but pop culture is way ahead of reality. James Earl Jones portrayed the first in The Man (1972), and several have followed. As an entertainment-obsessed nation, asks Slate, might these fictional forebears affect our perception of the real... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Barack Obama • pop culture • president • America • racism • Dennis Haysbert • Election 2008 • African-Americans

OPINION

Buffett: I'm Buying American. You Should Be, Too.

When fear is rampant, the markets discount America's future

Oct 17, 08 9:32 AM CDT
(Newser) - “I’ve been buying American stocks,” Warren Buffett writes in the New York Times, and he'd like to see a stampede of others following suit. Sure, the financial system is a mess, global economies are faltering, unemployment is rising, and headlines will continue to terrorize markets. But markets... More »

MORE ABOUT:
investing • Warren Buffett • stocks • America • financial markets • Oracle of Omaha • financial crisis

OPINION

 Innocence, 
 Bravado Are a 
 Dangerous Mix 

McCain's Alaskan choice invokes myth of 'the innocent American' 

Sep 27, 08 12:32 PM CDT
(Newser) - John McCain's choice of running mate invokes the one of our country's oldest and most seductive myths, the virtue of American innocence, Anthony Robinson writes in the Seattle P-I. Innocent of Old World wiles, Americans are thought to have "a combination of virtue, tenacity and practical knowledge that will... More »

MORE ABOUT:
John McCain • Alaska • America • running mate • Election 2008 • Sarah Palin • innocent

OPINION

Trouble the Water Vividly Mixes Katrina, Race

Documentary traces one couple's story through New Orleans disaster

Aug 21, 08 5:50 PM CDT
(Newser) - Trouble the Water, a new documentary, is ostensibly about Hurricane Katrina, centered around home-video footage shot during the disaster by a resident of New Orleans’ Ninth Ward. But the film, which frames Kimberly Roberts’ footage within a larger context, transcends that one event to put forth a peerless discussion of... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Hurricane Katrina • race • African Americans • New Orleans • America • racism • African-Americans

OLYMPICS

 US Women's Soccer Claims Gold

Team beats Brazil 1-0 in extra time

Aug 21, 08 12:43 PM CDT
(Newser) - The US women’s soccer team claimed Olympic gold today, besting Brazil 1-0 with a goal scored in extra time, the AP reports. Carli Lloyd scored the crucial goal, but goalkeeper Hope Solo was the star of the game, shutting down shot after shot from Brazil’s unrelenting offense. It... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Brazil • soccer • 2008 Beijing Olympics • America • US women's soccer • US Olympic athletes

OPINION

Georgian War Lays Bare
Bush Policy's Failures

US encouraged Georgian bluster; provoked Russian paranoia

Aug 19, 08 3:45 PM CDT
(Newser) - The Georgian war crystallizes the failure of the Bush administration's foreign policy, writes HDS Greenway in the Boston Globe. Besides the ready-made justification the Iraq war provides to any invading country, America has stoked Georgian boldness, "and now America's client is wiping blood from its nose," he writes.... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Russia • NATO • missile shield • Vladimir Putin • Georgia • United States • America • Tbilisi

We're Down, We're Really Down: Poll

76% of Americans
say country is headed
in wrong direction

Aug 1, 08 7:20 AM CDT
(Newser) - Only 24% of Americans think the country is on the right track in a new CNN/Opinion Research Corp. poll. That number is the lowest since 1980. The other times it has dipped below 30% were during Watergate, the Iran hostage crisis, and the economic slump of 1992. As recently as... More »

MORE ABOUT:
poll • America • optimism • approval ratings

OPINION

Keep the Hummer:
Save America's Soul

Yes, it's obnoxious; that's why we need it

Jul 12, 08 2:00 PM CDT
(Newser) - Sure, the Hummer is more of a "cartoon" than a vehicle, a ridiculously over-the-top gas-guzzling monstrosity. But the unbridled optimism it takes to manufacture it—and to fill up the tank—is what makes it uniquely American, writes Matthew DeBord in the Washington Post. If GM axes it,... More »

MORE ABOUT:
General Motors • America • SUV • auto industry • hybrid car • optimism • Hummer • American

One for the Books: Ben Franklin Weds Betsy Ross

A history-based love is consecrated in Philadelphia

Jul 4, 08 1:23 PM CDT
(Newser) - Betsy Ross married Benjamin Franklin last night at Philadelphia’s Independence Hall, in what probably seemed to many onlookers as a bit of historical fantasy in honor of July 4th, the Inquirer reports. But this was not acting: The couple was Linda Wilde and Ralph Archbold, two of Philadelphia’s... More »

MORE ABOUT:
America • Philadelphia • Michael Nutter • impersonator • Ben Franklin • Betsy Ross

 Dig Finds Washington's 
 Home (No Cherry Tree) 

Archaeologists excavate boyhood home of founding father

Jul 2, 08 6:20 PM CDT
(Newser) - Archaeologists have found the childhood home of George Washington, the New York Times reports—and despite the popular legend, there's no cherry tree anywhere on the premises. Researchers describe the founding father's Virginia digs as “a very nice gentry house” sporting eight rooms—not the simple cottage pictured in... More »

MORE ABOUT:
archaeology • Freemason • America • history • excavation • George Washington

OPINION

 Candidates Exploit
 Muslim-Jewish Divide 

McCain and Obama insulting Muslims to gain favor with Jewish voters

Jun 26, 08 6:05 PM CDT
(Newser) - The presidential candidates are ignoring—even insulting—American Muslims in the hope of grabbing the Jewish vote, write Salam Al-Marayati and Steven B. Jacobs in the Los Angles Times. McCain and Obama have on several occasions snubbed Muslims, who seem to be the victims of modern McCarthyism—just substitute... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Islam • United States • Judaism • America • Muslim • Jewish • Election 2008

 Oz Tops US As World's Fattest 

26% of Australians obese, to 25% of Americans; 9M of Aussies too heavy

Jun 20, 08 5:02 PM CDT
(Newser) - Australia is the fattest nation in the world, the Age reports. A new study says body-mass index measurements pegs 4 million people—26% of the nation's population—as obese, narrowly beating the US, where 25% are obese. An additional 5 million Aussies are classified as overweight—with the usual suspects... More »

MORE ABOUT:
obesity • Australia • fat • America • overweight • belly fat

 Foreign Investment in Iraq Up 

American firms may miss early opportunities

Jun 17, 08 4:09 PM CDT
(Newser) - European and Asian investors are taking advantage of the recently stabilized Iraqi business climate, USA Today reports. US firms still regard Iraq as too dangerous to invest in, but that attitude may cost them the best opportunities. The firms “who are getting in on the ground floor are not... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Iraq • business • competition • America • foreign investment • investment firm • investment

 Long Journey Home From Iraq 

A soldier's remains touches many

Jun 8, 08 5:13 AM CDT
(Newser) - One soldier's death reveals more of America's pain more starkly than Iraqi war statistics ever could. So one reporter discovered as he followed the remains of Indiana native son Sgt. Robert Joe Montgomery from a pass near the Tigris to a funeral in Scottsburg, meeting all who suffered along the... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Iraq • Iraq death toll • America • cost • military families • casualties • Iraq war

OPINION

At Chicago's Field, 'Ancient Americas' Exhibit a Bust

Museum 'patronizes, demeans' its subjects

Jun 4, 08 5:10 PM CDT
(Newser) - Revisiting Chicago’s Field Museum—an institution enshrined in loving childhood memories—for its “The Ancient Americas” exhibit is a sore disappointment, PJ O’Rourke writes in the Weekly Standard. Once a bastion of public scholarship so solemn it contained a section devoted to useful varieties of wood, the... More »

MORE ABOUT:
museum • America • Incas • Aztecs • political correctness • Native Americans • Christopher Columbus • P.J. O'Rourke • Field Museum

10 Score Later, America Still Loves Lincoln

As bicentennial nears, an industry springs up around Honest Abe

May 19, 08 4:36 PM CDT
(Newser) - Honest Abe may be gone, but an industry of books, debates, and a Spielberg biopic are all alive and well. With Abraham Lincoln's bicentennial coming next year, all three White House hopefuls have invoked his name, and the US Mint is issuing pennies to honor states where he lived. "... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Steven Spielberg • America • publishing • history • Abraham Lincoln • history of democracy

OPINION

Iran Outsmarting US in New Cold War in Mideast

America is too dumb, weak right now to counter, Friedman says

May 14, 08 12:02 PM CDT
(Newser) - The new cold war is being waged between America and Iran, and Iran is winning hands down, Thomas L Friedman writes in the New York Times. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's nation has built up influence from Iraq to Lebanon, with power over Iraq's prime minister, Hezbollah, Hamas, and other militias—and a... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Iran • Israel • Middle East • Syria • Mahmoud Ahmadinejad • Hamas • Hezbollah • America • Cold War • George W. Bush • Sunni allies

Philly Steak Shop Can Keep
'Please Speak English' Signs

Statement political, no service denied: panel

Mar 20, 08 5:10 PM CDT
(Newser) - The owner of a Philadelphia institution can keep signs that ask customers to order their cheese steaks in English, the Philadelphia Inquirer reports. A city agency ruled the signs at Geno's Steaks—"This is America. When ordering, please speak English"—do not violate discrimination rules; owner Joey Vento... More »

MORE ABOUT:
immigration • America • Philadelphia • language • English • Joe Vento • cheese steak shop • Geno's • foreign languages

More Americans Cut Church Ties

50% have switched denomination, and
16% have no affiliation

Feb 26, 08 6:00 AM CST
(Newser) - Americans are swapping  religious affiliations at an accelerating rate, with 50% choosing  a different denomination than the one they were raised in, and 16%—double the number 20 years ago—saying the have no ties to a particular church, a new survey of religious life finds. That doesn't mean they're... More »

MORE ABOUT:
immigration • Catholic Church • religion • America • secularism • faith • Latinos • churchgoers • evangelicals

US Fertility Rate Bounces
to Boom Levels

Birth rates up across all age groups

Dec 20, 07 4:41 AM CST
(Newser) - Americans are having more babies than at any time since 1971, USA Today reports. The fertility rate hit an average of 2.1 babies for every woman in 2006, the highest since just before the Baby Boom ended. The rise in fertility puts America apart from other developed countries, many... More »

MORE ABOUT:
fertility • America • baby • population • demographics • baby boom

21 - 40 of 60 Stories | << Prev 1 2 3 Next >>


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